I recently attended a US Postal Service’s Postal Customer Council (PCC) meeting where the focus was on direct mail. The interesting takeaway for me was how the use of direct mail in concert with email leads to dramatically improved results.

They spoke about the increased response rate when email and direct mail campaigns are coordinated. For example, a recent InfoTrends study found that response rates increase 45% when you combine direct mail with a landing page, email address and mobile marketing.

While I listened to the merits of this approach for marketing purposes, I could not help but wonder if the concept doesn’t also apply to transaction mail. Certainly, marketers are trying to reach customers to make them aware of new products and services, increase sales and, just as importantly, maximize customer retention, so why not maximize the marketing value of transaction mail (statements, invoices, confirms, etc.)?

Questioning a company’s e-delivery strategy
Since the financial crisis, companies have had a serious focus on cost reduction. Switching a customer from paper to e-delivery can save three dollars, five dollars or even $10 a year per customer, depending on the industry and mix/frequency of mailings.

Getting a customer to make the switch can be problematic, as clients object to saving the business money while adding an extra burden on themselves (the “What’s in it for me?” problem). Furthermore, many clients who do add e-delivery and e-billing still receive their paper versions in order to keep a hard copy for their records and, often, as a reminder to pay their bills. Companies lament about the large group of customers who decide to add e-delivery and e-billing rather than simply replacing paper completely. These “double dippers” actually cost more than if they had stayed with only paper delivery.

The cost difference between acquiring a new customer versus retaining an existing one is enormous, and cross-selling to existing (satisfied) clients is the most profitable path to growing revenue.